The Project: Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has been ravaged by an ongoing regional conflict over the area’s vast natural resources for close to three decades. A devastating outcome of this conflict has been rampant sexual violence targetting women and girls. In partnership with Congolese activists and survivors, V-Day created the City of Joy in Bukavu to meet the needs of these survivors. A six-month residential program that serves 90 female survivors of gender violence at a time, the City of Joy is an example of what is possible when women are given the chance to live in community and heal themselves. Our 29th class is set to graduate in June bringing our network of graduates to 2493 strong.

A throughline of the transformation participants experience is agropastoral training at the V-World Farm, a beautiful and lush 338-hectare sanctuary—which operates on a solar energy system and a generator— that is a living classroom for the women of City of Joy through regenerative farming, animal husbandry, and ecology training. It is also an essential source of food security for them through a bounty of crops and protein sources the farm provides, such as beans, sorghum, honey, soya, corn, taro, amaranth, cabbage, black nightshade, tomato, red onion, avocado, eggplant, lemon, carrot, fish and eggs.

Ecosystem we are working in: Women see the farm as more than just a physical location and sustainable community, but as a metaphor for transformation, empowerment, environmental responsibility and indigenous rights. There is a deep, long-term vision that begins with the women and the farm and continues with the reintegration of women into their communities – to the very land that was the site of their violations – empowered with their own healing and skills in permaculture and sustainable agricultural business practices such as: food production, animal husbandry and bee keeping, fish breeding, rice growing, composting, market gardening and reforestation.

Outcomes: Supporting this project will allow 2 cohorts of 90 women (total 180 women) to complete training at the V-World Farm, one each in our January and June sessions.